The D.S.P.I.

by DungeonMiner

Fortification

The second they had touched down, Spike had began to fortify the headquarters. “I am not letting that scumbag get in!” He had roared, before going off himself to erect concrete barricades.

The teams were quick to follow, setting up killing fields, choke points, checkpoints, defensive cover and more. They were making the whole headquarters into a fortress.

It actually confused Silver a bit.

“Aren’t we safe just because vampires can't enter a home without being invited?” he asked, setting up another barricade.

“He can be invited by anything. All he needs is one ghoul that knows how to speak to let him in. We're going to make sure the ghouls don't set a hoof inside.”

That was a better answer than he expected, honestly.

The floor was reinforced with grates and steel, automated Thermal Shot turrets with their best, albeit prototype targeting spell matrix gems.

Large, triangular barricades were set with their long, hypotenuse slant facing where the enemy would be coming from. “Hopefully, it would keep the enemy from using the barricades against us,” Spike told them. “That, and it’ll hopefully roll any grenades they throw back at them.”

“Grenades? I thought we were dealing with ghouls?”

“Have you ever seen a ghoul use a grenade?” Spike asked.

“No sir?”

“Well I certainly don’t want to.”

The logic was almost self-evident.

Almost.

In two days time the headquarters had transformed from - secret underground base - to a full on military bunker. There was not a hallway that was not covered by some firearm at all times. It was impenetrable, if Silver had to say so himself.

“We did a good job, team,” Silver said to Alpha Team.

“I’m just glad we’re getting back to shooting things.” Sparky muttered.

Wiping the sweat off his face, Silver smiled. “You know, I’m almost proud of this.”

“Good, cause there's more to do,” the Commander said, walking up behind them.

“More?” Neon asked, almost scandalized at the thought.

“More,” Spike confirmed.

“But sir,” Silver began, “-this base is practically impossible to assault. They couldn't get past—”

“You can't get past the defenses and turrets, but we're dealing with something way beyond you,” Spike grunted. “We're not done. Not by a long shot. We're going to be at this for the next week.”

“A week of this?” Sparky groaned.

“Yes, a week,” the dragon said. “Now, I have some silver oil for you to apply to the floor and walls. Let's see them dig through the floor again.”

Silver sighed as Spike began to walk away, leading them away to their next job. “Well, you heard the dragon, let's go,” he said.

===ᐁ===

Defenses weren't the only thing the teams were preoccupied with during the week. Gamma and Phi both had been given a full briefing on Valentine, and Alpha was now waiting for their own to begin any second.

The team was gathered in the briefing room, waiting on Spike to show up and give them the full story on what was happening, spread across the whole room.

Sparky sat at the table, half asleep. Being the team’s only heavy lifter until Chestnut got back, he had been given most of the lifting work when it came to the defenses. Lemon sat opposite him, reading over a list of a new potion grenades types that Spike had been reserving for this. Mandible and Neon sat to one side, playing cards as they waited, and Amber was by herself, sighing.

“I guess we’re all here,” Silk said, walking up next to Silver.

“All but Spike,” the Assault said.

“Oh, don’t tell me you forgot me already,” someone said.

The team turned to see Chestnut, rolling in on a wheelchair.

“Chestnut!” Amber cried, before she flew across the room to hug his neck.

“Hey everyone,” Chestnut said, rolling forward.

“Naw, couldn’t forget you, Chestnut,” Silver said. “There’s too much empty space without you. How are you doing, man?”

“Better,” the Heavy said. “I can move now, but I’m kinda stuck in a chair for a bit. But check this out,” he said, before he held out his new arm.

The steel and brass limb looked like something out out of a science fiction comic. Gears and wheels clicked and spun along the joints, while the almost skeletal body of the arm hissed as pistons worked. It moved as fluidly as a living leg, and it even reacted to Silver’s touch.

“Wow,” the unicorn muttered, “that’s a pretty piece of work.”

“It get’s better,” Chestnut said. “Pull it.”

“Pull it?” Silver asked, eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, pull it sideways.”

Silver obeyed, and the arm came free. “I think it was a little loose,” Silver said, before the arm moved in the unicorn’s magical grasp.

Silver stared up at it.

It waved at him, and Chestnut smiled.

“I…”

“It’s attuned to me,” Chestnut explained. “That’s why it’s taking so long. Everything else is ready, it’s just my legs now.”

“Okay…” Silver said, still trying to process the whole thing, and returned the leg back where it belonged. “Why do you need removable legs that you can still control?”

Chestnut smiled. “You’ll see soon enough.”

“Alright everyone, time for business,” Spike said, walking in suddenly.

The team took their seats, and the changeling gave Sparky a nudge, waking him from his nap.

“As I’m sure you’ve heard,” Spike began as the room fell silent, “Gamma Team recently ran into a vampire that has been confirmed to be Valentine Ebonbite. Now Ebonbite is a very powerful vampire, but in this briefing I’m going to do my best to give a sense of how powerful he is.”

“Can’t be that hard,” Sparky muttered to himself.

If Spike heard him, he didn’t acknowledge him. “According to our best sources Valentine was a native of the Crystal Empire. He was a mage in the service of the royal family, and eventually began to search for a means of immortality.”

“As one does,” Mandible said with a smirk.

“So he delved into necromancy,” Spike continued. “He eventually decided that being a vampire was his best bet. However, instead of doing the traditional thing and going to get bit, he decided that he was going to try a different route. He took a vampire, killed him, and crystallized the vampire’s blood into a gem.

“Then the madman decided to replace his heart with the gem,” Spike explained. “This gave him vampirism, but also gave him an incredible head start in power.”

“Any idea why he wanted to do it that way?” Mandible asked.

“The best we can guess, he didn’t want to risk becoming a thrall, so he cut out the middlepony. Either that, or he found out that his way would allow him to use the vampire’s power as his own. Or he did it to combat the weakness of vampirism. We’re not sure, all we know is what other vampires have told us.”

“And what else have they told us?” Silk asked.

“Well, they have a strong suspicion that Valentine may have inspired Sombra to action, if that means anything to you.”

“Wasn’t he a villain that the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony fought?” Neon asked.

“He was,” Spike said. “Enslaved all of Crystal Empire before the girls and I stopped him. Anyway, Valentine. Valentine had escaped the original sealing of the Empire after leaving the royal court. Since then, he’s been focusing on his powers of necromancy and with his new heart, there was very little that could be done against him. Rival vampires either left him alone or died, and that was just the start.”

Spike took a moment, sighing before he continued. “Moving on to more modern events, he has taken an obsessive interest in the Department, and has created multiple ‘games’ that determine whether or not various employees live or die. He has very little respect for mortal pony life.

“As for weaknesses,” Spike continued, “...stakes are useless because he has no heart to impale. We already know silver isn’t any good against vampires, and he is resistant to fire. He can grow back from nothing but his heart, sunlight stops his powers, but he still has more than a thousand years of necromantic study, and could raise an army of the undead in broad daylight. The only that keeps the madman from moving openly against Equestria as a whole are the Princesses themselves, which keeps him, and the vampires with actual brains working in the shadows.”

“So basically he’s just tougher?” Sparky asked.

“He’s far more than ‘just tougher,’” Spike grunted. “If the vampires were to have open war, he would be the undeniable winner. The only vampire I could even imagine being able to go hoof to hoof with him would be the First Vampire herself, and even then, I’m not so sure.”

The briefing room went silent for a long time.

“Valentine is the greatest threat the Department has ever faced. Yes, there may be some creatures that are stronger, or faster, but Valentine was smarter, and it made him tougher than everything else we have ever faced.”

“So how do we take him down?” Silver asked.

“Destroy the heart,” Spike said. “Although, as you can probably guess, that's easier said than done. He has it enchanted to resist everything from crushing force, chipping, fire, ice, electricity, silver and more.”

“So we can't break it?” Chestnut asked.

“No, there's always a limit to resistance enchantments. We can break it, but it will take extreme effort to do so. The hard part is getting the heart. I haven’t gotten it in the past two hundred years,” Spike said. “But I promise you, the second we do, we will finally be able to end this.”

===ᐁ===

Fortification continued, day by day, building on top of every new level to be more and more defensible. It was almost ridiculously excessive, if not for the sheer resilience of the monsters Silver had seen. Of course, that didn’t stop him from feeling uncomfortable, knowing that the tiny IR card he was now forced to carry was the only thing between him and death by high-caliber rounds.

When the week had fully passed, only then was Spike confident enough to begin missions again. Silver had gone out again, and come back. Sparky and Neon had a mission with Phi, and Amber and Lemon went together on another mission with Gamma.

Chestnut, meanwhile, got his second arm, and was beginning to “calibrate” them with trips down to the firing range. That’s where Silver found him on the Monday after, sitting in his motorized wheelchair as he fired a pneumatic crossbow. “How’s it coming, Chestnut.”

“Oh, hey, Boss,” the heavy weapons pony geeted. “It’s going pretty good. I think my aim’s better with these new legs.”

“Aim’s more about your eye,” Silver said.

“That’s not what the target’s saying,” Chestnut said with a smirk.

“So are you going to tell me what the removable legs are for, yet?” Silver asked.

Chestnut smiled. “Oh- that’d ruin the surprise boss.”

Silver raised an eyebrow. “Are you really going to keep quiet about this?”

Chestnut smiled and reloaded.

“Alright,” the assault pony said with a smirk. A moment passed, and then another before Silver spoke up again. “How’s Amber treating you?”

“She’s still upset that the Commander took my legs, and mad at me that I’m not upset, but other than that she’s treating me well. She says my arms are too cold, though.”

“We can’t win every time.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

Chestnut emptied another magazine of bolts into the target against the far wall. “I’m telling you, Boss, the arms made my aim better.”

Silver shook his head. “If you say so, man. You going to join us for dinner?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be with the whole team.”

“Not the whole team. Sparky’s off with Gamma tonight on another mission, but Amber and the others are here.”

“Close enough,” Chestnut said, before he backed away from the counter and wheeled over to the weapon rack. “Alright, let’s go.”

Silver nodded, and the two began to head back towards cafeteria. “You know, I have to ask… is it true what the girls are saying about you, Boss?”

“Depends on what they’re saying about me,” Silver replied.

“I heard that you stared down Valentine.”

Silver frowned. “No...no that’s true.”

“Really?” Chestnut asked. “I mean, it sounds like something you’d do. Stand in front a thing like that.”

“I was standing because I was to afraid to move,” Silver admitted.

Chestnut blinked. “You? Scared, Boss? I don’t believe it.”

“That’s probably why they think I was being brave.”

“You were honestly scared?” Chestnut asked, like he couldn't wrap his head around the idea.

“Yes, Chestnut, honestly.”

The earth pony cyborg shook his head. “Then why tell me that? You could let everyone think you're a hero if you wanted to.”

“Honestly Chestnut, I prefer ugly truth over unearned praise. I’ve known too many real heroes to do otherwise.”

===ᐁ===

Sparky and Gamma were preparing their strike.

They had tracked another Crimson Covenant cell down to a building in the middle of the desert south of old Equestria. The tiny house, little more than a room by itself, led to a staircase that descended into a series of tunnels and underground chambers that threatened a lot of close quarters combat.

Sparky was looking forward to it, it had been a while since he used his knife. The magically reinforced obsidian blade was ready to slip between flesh, and maybe stab another vampire or two.

“Now come on, focus. You have a job to do, Sparky.”

“Alright. Team, get ready,” Chrome Shift said, as he loaded molotovs into his potion launcher.

Gamma checked their rounds, magazines and crossbows, checking and re-checking their arms just to make sure they didn't jam. The click-clack of the crossbows being reloaded echoed for a second or two before Chrome nodded. “Alright, let’s move.”

The team moved, inching toward the small building that was being guarded by two cultists armed with muskets. The only one who stayed behind was the Sniper, who took careful aim at her target.

Sparky waited at the back.

They moved closer, Gamma’s Scout and Assault inching forward with their crossbows trained on one of the guards.

A second passed. Another.

And Gamma made its move, in a perfectly timed, simultaneous attack, two crossbow bolts slammed into one of the guards while a thermal shot vaporized half of the face of the other.

“Move in, move in, secure the stairs.”

Gamma worked like a well-oiled machine. Sliding over to the muskets, and setting them aside while the others stood next to the stairs, setting up a secured area while the team gathered itself.

“Okay, we’ll move down, and begin to clear the complex. Remember what the Commander taught us. Ready to move on my mark.”

Sparky smirked. “Just keep making my job easier.”

Chrome took a second, a deep breath, and motioned with his hoof. Time to move. Gamma began to drop into the tunnels beneath the building, and the temperature immediately dropped as they entered the concrete catacombs.

Sparky kept his focus as they went down, slowly making his way toward the back. Deeper and deeper down they went, and they made contact, but Sparky didn't.

Sparky was in the back, and with a thought, had activated his internal camouflage.

Effectively invisible in the darkness, Sparky moved away, heading down side passages and empty rooms to try and get around Gamma and the firefight happening a few rooms away.

He searched the rooms, looking for the thing that could grant him what he wanted. He ran past empty room after empty room, checking high and low it.

“What are you looking for, little pony?” A voice growled in the darkness.

Sparky spun, leveling his crossbow out of habit at a Pegasus with bat wings.

Sparky smirked. “Perfect, I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

“Talk to me?” The vampire asked. “That is a very dangerous thing to do.”

“Not as dangerous as talking to your boss,” the scout said with a smirk.

The vampire regarded him a moment or two. “You wish to speak with Lord Ebonbite?”

Sparky nodded. “I want to make a deal.”

===ᐁ===

Only a few rooms away, the fighting was fierce. Musket fire and silver tipped crossbow bolt flew through the air at terrible speeds, leaving the air between both sides as little more than a crossfire of whistling metal.

The heavy weapons pony kept trying to provide suppressive fire, but every time he moved, the cultists would focus their fire on him. “I need a moment!”

“Give me a second!” Chrome yelled, loading a potion into his launcher. He slid the potion home and turned into the hallway.

Thunder sounded, and Chrome went flying backwards.

“They have a cannon!” the sniper shouted from cover.

“Demo is down!” the medic yelled, staring at Chrome’s upper body. His hind legs had been torn off, leaving him with only his forelegs which still gripped his weapon. “Someone take out that cannon!”

A sudden streak shot across the room, and a volley of bolts shot forward, ripping the enemy cannon team to pieces. Sparky stood amongst them all, standing like some sort of angel. “We have four vampires a few rooms down. We're going to need backup.”

“You heard the pony!” The agent yelled. “We're outgunned. Pull out! Thundercloud, be ready for extraction!”

Gamma began to move, the heavy weapons pony pulling Chrome’s broken form onto his back as they sounded the retreat. They ran up the stairs and into the sunlight.

Yet Sparky waited at the top of the stairs, and stared into the darkness behind him.

Two, hungry red eyes stared back at him from the shadows.

A single, long, understanding look passed between them.

The scout nodded, and moved on.

Comments

[Valiant Knight]

Well... that doesn’t seem good.

[Doood]

Beyrayallllll - Dundundunnnnnn

[djthomp]

Detachable, remote-controlled limbs. Interesting.

Definitely a challenge, but beatable in the right circumstances. In my opinion, just apply fire and keep applying fire until there's nothing left but the heart, and then deal with the heart. I have to wonder why the warehouse encounter last chapter couldn't have been the beginning of that, unless Spike's fire just isn't enough to burn him down to nothing.

So, Sparky is either a traitor, or some deeper plot is going on. If the former, this could easily lead to the invite that lets Valentine into the base. If the latter, possibly the same but as a part of a plan.